A three-year-old tiger walked a distance of 100 km, crossed a national highway and swam through a big river in spate to reach the other side of the forest to look for a tigress he could mate with.

The long walk from Nagzira wildlife sanctuary to Pavni in Maharashtra’s Vidarhbha region happened in August and the adventurous big cat was Jay, said a report in The Sunday Express.

Forest officials said Jay had to migrate since the sex-ratio in Nagzira was skewed.

Now Jay has apparently found peace – having mated with two tigresses and taking over the territory of a bigger tiger.

He probably followed the paw-steps of Aayaat, who had walked to Balaghat district in February looking for a mate.

Jay’s and Aayaat’s had to leave Nagzira. One of the tigresses in the sanctuary is Jay’s mother and is 13 years old and the other is 10 years old, who is moving with her cubs, the report said quoting Gondia honorary wildlife warden Savan Bahekar.

Another Nagzira tiger, Rashtrapati, is missing.

What astounded the forest officials is the ease with which Jay traveled such a long distance – even meeting humans on the way.

They said he was probably so used to seeing tourists in Nagzira that he didn’t care much about humans on his long walk to Pavni.

But there were now reports that he may be behind the killing of several cattle in the villages surrounding his new territory.